Questions from Covenant

37. How do you work in praying 5x a day?

38. When you are at class or out in town and it is time to pray do you wait until you get home or do you stop and pray then?

39. What do you do if you are in a meeting & it’s time to pray? Do you leave, or stay?

At first, praying 5x a day may seem daunting, especially when the first time begins at the crack of dawn! But for a believer, performing the “5 dailys” (dawn, mid-day, late afternoon, sunset, and evening) becomes second nature and is typically experienced as a welcome respite from the stresses of day-to-day life. One is very strongly encouraged to perform one’s prayers as soon as it is time. Timeliness is the sought-after ideal. However, there is actually a window of time during which it is permissible to perform one’s prayers. Generally speaking, this window is “open” from the beginning of a prayer time until approximately 15 minutes before the next time comes in. Such flexibility combined with the fact that prayers can be performed in +/- 10 minutes, leaves little excuse for not finding (making) the time to pray.

Whether I excuse myself from a class or a meeting, or whether I wait until I get home, is determined largely by the given time, place, and circumstances. Timeliness is my primary objective. However, I also try to maintain harmony with the natural flow of my predominately un-Islamic environment by taking advantage of the God-given allowances and flexibilty inherent to Islam. In other words, sometimes I excuse myself from meetings, sometimes I duck into an empty conference room at the Omni when I’m on the Downtown Mall, sometimes I stand right in front of security check points at international airports, sometimes I pull over to the side of the road, sometimes I swing by the mosque, and sometimes I just wait until I get home ;->

The primary concern in this regard is to not miss any prayers, which means that in many situations waiting is not an option. Interestingly, learning to muster the spiritual fortitude required to pray whilst out and about in public has strengthened my faith and conviction tremendously. I came to Islam in Indonesia where the culture is attuned to the “5 dailys.” There, one can find a mosque on every corner, and public buildings all have “prayer rooms” and washing facilities. Such convenience makes performing prayers relatively easy. However, here in the U.S.A., it was not so easy for me to get into the rhythm of praying, especially in public. In fact, there were times when I just couldn’t do it (in public), and I would always wait until I got home. But God has granted me the strength and courage to overcome my weaknesses and self-consciousness. Now, whenever I perform my humble prostrations in a public place, I feel just a little bit closer to Almighty God unto whom we shall all, one day, return. Alhamdulillah.

[tags]islam, christianity, religion, interfaith dialogue, revert, convert, muslim, prayers, 5 dailys[/tags]

36. If you could go back in time, who would you talk to and why?

I would talk to each and every one of my ancestors until I sat before Adam, peace be upon him. Why? Because I’d like to know from whence I came.

[tags]islam, christianity, religion, interfaith dialogue, revert, convert, muslim[/tags]

34. Do you shave your head for religious beliefs?

35. Did you shave your head and grow your beard out for a specific reason?

The cutting of one’s hair or the shaving of one’s head is one of the rituals during the umrah and hajj pilgrimage. When I first shaved my head, it was for that reason. Afterwards, I realized the convenience and comfort of a shaved head. And since I am going bald anyway, I simply continue to shave off what I have left.

Ever since I could grow a beard, I’ve been inclined to sport one. It has always felt natural and “right.” A beard also happens to be in the tradition of Muhammed, may peace and blessings be upon him, who said men should grow their beards and trim their moustaches, as was (is) the way of all prophets and men of God. I have a (Muslim) friend from Lebanon who said he answers the “beard question” thusly, “I grow my beard because I want to look like Jesus.” ;->

See Questions 9 & 10.

[tags]islam, christianity, religion, interfaith dialogue, revert, convert, muslim, beard[/tags]

33. Why do you think Muslim is better than Christian?

No comment.

32. What did you not like about Christianity? What benefits of Muslim faith did you like?

Growing up and into early adulthood, I found the doctrinal teachings of Christianity to be very complicated and confusing; it didn’t make sense. I believed in God, the Creator, and in the afterlife, but the metaphysical gymnastics required to grasp the Trinity, and the concept of atonement for sin was too much for me. I was also uncomfortable with the apparent emphasis on only small portions of the Bible. It seemed like in the light of a few verses from John, and the whole of what Paul ever said, large sections of the Bible were effectively irrelevent.

In Islam, I found a simple, unified whole that makes sense to me. I also find the fact that Islam is understood and experienced as a way of life to be very beneficial. For me, it has been a clear, wide, and straight path that I feels good to the soles of my weary feet.

Furthermore, being a community minded fellow, Islam’s emphasis on congregational worship appealed to me long before I embraced the faith.

[tags]islam, christianity, religion, interfaith dialogue, revert, convert, muslim[/tags]

29. Mr. Kelley, Why can you say that you believe in Jesus’ teachings & miracles… yet, Jesus Himself said that He was the Son of God? Are you picking & choosing what to believe about Jesus?

30. How can there be a claim that God does not exist in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit when we see all three of them at Jesus’ baptism? The incarnate Jesus, the spirit in dove form, and the voice of the Father.

31. How can you believe that Jesus is a prophet if you believe he was wrong when he said that he was God?

Since I believe that there is only one God, and that any notion of a “son” or other worldly incarnation is a direct contradiction to that premise, yes, I choose to believe in only those aspects of Jesus, peace be upon him, that are in concert with the consistent and clear message of Islam regarding the Message and all of the Messengers of God, may peace be upon them all. I do not “pick and choose” for the sake of convenience, nor as a part of making up my religion, as some are wont to do.

If we attempt to identify and distinguish the metaphysical mechanisms or aspects of God’s dominion over the whole of creation, as is the case with the Trinity, we are attributing significance to something other than God alone. For to believe in “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” is to believe in three things, not one. Furthermore, I believe that God cannot truly be comprehended in this life and that if our feeble consideration of God were anything other than as a supreme “whole,” we’d be kidding ourselves.

I don’t believe Jesus was “wrong,” I just don’t believe he said that ;->

[tags]islam, christianity, religion, interfaith dialogue, revert, convert, muslim, jesus[/tags]

28. Did you ever think praying 5 times a day is hard?

I’ve never really found the “5 dailys” to be particulary hard, in fact, it’s usually a pleasure. What I have found to be challenging, at times, is finding a comfortable place to pray when I am in public. I can remember the first time after embracing Islam that I was visiting the U.S.A. from Indonesia, where there are designated prayer spaces everywhere. I was in LAX (Los Angeles international airport). There were people EVERYWHERE! I was VERY self-conscious and nervous, so much so that I could not muster the spiritual fortitude required to block out all those non-believers and to perform my prayers at the appointed time. It took me quite some time before I could stand up and say my prayers in close proximty to security check points in major international airports, where it is assumed that terrorists are Muslims, and that Muslims are more likely to be terrorists.

[tags]islam, christianity, religion, interfaith dialogue, revert, convert, muslim, salat, prayers[/tags]